SOMALI PIRATES; SHOOT EM UP

for the first time, private security on a commercial vessel shot and killed a Somali pirate. immediately there is hand wringing. is this ok, who has jurisdiction, etc. it is unfortunate but if the world community thru and entity such as nato or such, wont shut these guys down, then owners are within there rights to do what is necessary to protect the lives and property aboard their vessels. yes shooting bullets should be the last step; but still a legitimate step.

this is a joke. there is a whole economy based on piracy and we are doing dip. its just like the Barbary pirates which we ultimately sent in the marines. we should not put ship owners in this position. it is interfering with world commerce and the world needs to intervene

MANS BEST FRIEND

speaking for myself, sometimes the rat race, the state of the world etc. gets me down. but recently, mans best friend, in my case Wrinkles, my daughters old english bulldog reminded me how to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

yesterday as i was getting dressed for work i spied 4 ducks doing mischief in the swimming pool. i charged out to scare them away with wrinkles hard on my heels. at some point my geometry savant dog figured out that a straight line between her and the ducks was through me. pursuing this point A to point B strategy she bowled me over in mid stride causing me to fly into the swimming pool nearly fully clothed.

needless to say the ducks escaped and wrinkles peered at me quizzically wondering what i was doing in the swimming pool dressed for work. i had to just laugh hysterically. reshowered, redressed and refreshed, i sallied forth into the silliness.

thank you wrink

THE POPE MUST GO!

the abuse of a child is the most heinous crime conceivable. as the story unfolds it is clear that then archbishop ratzinger knew he had a priest that had abused children. abuse is really a euphamism for a truly evil act. he approved the priest being moved to munich for therapy. his old #2 is taking the fall for him but it is not good enough. under the concepts of failure to supervise and breach of fiduciary duty the pope should resign.

24

we all have guilty pleasures, i have too many but includes watching the program 24. for those of you similarly afflicted i want to share question about the last episode.

a young suicide bomber locked himself in a barometric chamber in a hospital and was trying to blow himself up. ctu disabled his device electronically but he was hard wiring it to override. for some reason there were three fuses and three lights that needed to turn green to ignite. he is working away, one green light, two, and ultimately three and boom. but i have a question

why didnt ctu turn off the lights inside the chamber? he couldnt hardwire the circuits in the dark?

next back to more worldly concerns

BONUSGATE; HOW IT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED

why didnt i think of this sooner. most people other than the recepients have been annoyed all the way to apoplectic about the bonuses paid out by banks and investment banks (not sure if there are any of those left). now bonuses, unless youre merrill lynch come out of profits. but what is profit when you have large leveraged balance sheets? as the december 31, 2009 financial statements come out, we are seeing that many of these banks have very high per centages of non performing loans. these will undoubtedly lead to more loan loss reserves in 2010. what we should have done was reserved the hell out of these balance sheets in 2009; reducing profits thus reducing bonuses and gone into 2010 with stronger balance sheets.

what do you think?